An Idea Some Day

  Busy  couple of weeks, work-wise. Wrote a 6k sales page (as a test!) for a prospect ( supps  brand). A grind to  write,  but fun.  Will  lead to regular work if they like it enough. Work that could be a burn-out grind—and not even well paid up front—but it would be fun short-term , and the  prospect of a new client, rapid experience, discipline development (they want weekly pages shipping), and REVENUE SHARE has me thinking it would be  good  for the short/medium term. We’ll see how it goes soon enough. Found some  good , nuanced political philosophy sources that are proving an effective antidote to the main media outlets and their sensationalist war/geopolitics coverage… all fighting for clicks with silly, oversimplified, extreme takes. Best ignored. I’ve been  making a conscious effort  to STAY OFF MY PHONE this week.  Amazing  how much better it feels. My head feels  clearer , and I feel more in control of myself. The phone habit has a subtle, insidious, degrading effect on the se

  Been listening to a classic soft rock radio station on Amazon Music. Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, (lots of) Elton John. It’s  a good  way to detach and take the edge off reality. For all the supposed benefits and convenience of on-demand streaming, there’s a huge downside: it’s predictable.  There  no  chance something  just  happens to come on that you’d never choose to watch or listen to  but  it turns out you enjoy.  At least with the radio, there’s surprise and spontaneity. There’s a refreshing lack of  strategising  or control.  You can  just  go with the flow.  And who’s done that since the 90s without feeling guilty? Took the boys to the village play park this afternoon. It was so  nice . There was only one baby swing, so Ansel let Zen use it  and  he went on the big boy swing for the first time. Felt wholesome. Seems like ages since we’ve been able to do something outdoors because it’s rained almost non-stop for three months. The fields are all flooded when you drive around. Still

  Beautiful morning with mist hanging  right  on the horizon and the sun slowly, steadily, silently burning through it. Woke  in  the night feeling ill. Bad food.  The  chicken in yesterday’s stir fry  had been  in the freezer too long , I think .  Got to ride it out today. Still  no  new clients.  Starting to get a little anxious.  Need  to  considerably  scale my outreach and get people on calls.   Still,  beautiful  day with the boys ahead.

  Zen said  Ansel’s  name for the first time this morning. Ansel hid under his covers when Zen came into their room. Zen was super excited to find him when he lifted  up  the covers and delightedly squealed  “ Ansel ”  while pointing at him. It was so cute. Then he walked off, came back, and  gave him a hug  (which Ansel reciprocated)—that was even cuter! Been reading Generation X for the first time. (Why did I leave it so long?!)  It’s  great. Reminds me of how good Microserfs was—not that I can remember it.  I think I donated my original hardback copy  of it  to charity last month (it sat on my shelf untouched for almost thirty years, then a month after giving it away, I  decide  I  want  to  read it again —what are the chances  of that?!).  So,  I’ve  ordered a second-hand paperback copy to re-read soon.  Like me, Coupland thinks a lot about the impact of the internet on the world (and on humans). He straddles the pre-internet and post-internet cultural chasm like me. Watched a few

  Ansel’s swimming class was cancelled (second week in a row), so we went to library  then joined to  public swim an hour later. There was a young family there—parents in their twenties, uneducated, with a baby girl and a boy slightly older than A. The boy obviously didn’t have much experience in the water, and he was clearly scared. But his frustrated parents (particularly his dad), instead of reassuring him and making him feel safe, were making things worse and creating additional pressure by  saying  “Stop being silly, stop panicking, put your feet on the floor.”  They no doubt meant well, but it wasn’t helpful, and the poor kid was so upset. He kept asking to stand on the steps, but his parents weren’t hearing him. It was hard to watch.  I felt so sorry for that poor kid because he wasn’t doing anything wrong—he  just  wasn’t meeting his  parents  expectations, and they were not  being supportive at all .   And you  just  know he has to deal with this same problem in other areas  o